Protective.

The emotional responses we have to our virtual world are well-documented, heck, just look at my blogroll. For some reason, my 'cohesion' button is broken, so forgive me if this veers off toward the ditch. When I checked in to my reader list, delightfully, was bombarded with great things to read, but before I sing the praises of my fellow writers, I have few things to get off my chestpiece:

In this time in my life, I can't believe I can still get my virtual feelings hurt by others. Yes, I got protective, mothering defense mode for Momokawa yesterday. That little Druid is my sixth level 85. I know...enough is enough. But she's sweet, self-righteously young, and her character represents all the confidence of youth. And, her gear is crappy. But because she is my sixth high level character, I know what to do to compensate for crap gear. No one has died in a dungeon, or in LFR if I had any control over the heals. Stand in purple goo? Sure--when I go to hit my Leap of Faith button, it's not there. Left that in the other priestly-pants pocket. 

So anyway, I ran the first part of LFR with her yesterday. Nothing dropped for her, and I'm saving the Deathwing portion to run with buddies in case a healing mace or staff drops for her. Bottom line, cocky Death Knight rolled on the gloves, and offered them to the group:

Now, he never said anything about giving them to a guild-mate, but he did say this to me/Momokawa before he dropped group:

Wait - what? Little.... Okay. In my healing gear, which includes a 346 healing mace, a 316 Rainsong, and some other junky stuff, again, I healed by face-rolling, no one died, and I know what to do. It was a record kill, by the way. For the first time in a long time, I was just glad the hunters didn't put on Aspect of the Pack during the lightening round, or only one player stood in the ice. 

And then I did something I am not proud of: I started a toon on his server to give him a piece of my mind: all I said was that was not cool to say something mean and he just said "I was going to give the gloves to a guild mate, I never said I was giving them to you." (Edited for grammar.) And then I was immediately put on ignore, which was understandable. I mean, who wants crazy players coming to your server to chide you? His logic was I didn't "deserve" the gear because my gear was bad. (Which reminds me of the stats post....) Logically, I know there was nothing I was going to accomplish by speaking to him--he wasn't going to have some grand "epiphany" or grow-up. I have known 12-year-olds who were better behaved, so to call him a 12-year-old is kind of an insult to them. Is he a grown man? /shrug

Again, on my own, without any help from the RNGs or the Swags of the world, I got enough Valor Points to purchase a new trinket, and replace my Rainsong. Should just say "Go find your own healer." 

But I did kind of hit a wall. The legions of bad parents who not only are not supervising their children as they "play their computer games" but also post embarrassing videos of said children, or embarrass them publicly in social media venues, astounds me. You. Are. Bad. Parents. There. I said it. I am judging you. And I am right.

I kept playing that scene from Fried Green Tomatoes where Kathy Bates' parking spot is taken by two young hotties, and she rams her car into them with the justification that she is older and has more insurance. That is such a cathartic scene for all of us who do the right thing, try, play by the rules, and then some cocky asshat thinks the rules don't apply to them. I know there is a huge comeuppance debuff coming their way, but they still won't "get it." They are the abusers, the liars, and the low-lifes. Must have been the theme of the week, because a few close folks in my world were also hit by the Asshat Factor. Therefore, I made us all this:

So, if you ever feel like ramming your Buick in a parking lot of the Winn Dixie, I understand. Momo is covered under a hefty malpractice insurance policy, and has no problem not spreading the leaves of love on your sorry self if need be.

Here Is Where I Make My Real Point

Recently, Tzufit from Tree Heals posted another insightful post on the aging of WoW, and its players. In a conversation last week with another, the point was made that there are studies that have been done that demonstrate the decline of manners and social graces in any virtual world or social construct. Meaning: we are all nice at the beginning, and then it turns to...you know. I have witnessed this myself many times in my real life: everyone starts off kind of shy, putting the little toe in the water, and then works to find their "place" or role in the group. I am not sure what is to be done about it, other than just awareness and honesty--let others know you are aware of what they are doing and why, and this is usually reserved for those folks who are indeed, behaving like an asshat. No one ever stops and says to the good guys, "Hey, thanks for not being an asshat!" Negative attention is better than no attention at all to most humans. 

So to all my friends: "Thanks for not being an asshat." 

And you're welcome.